On this week's Platts Capitol Crude we talk with Keisuke Sadamori, the International Energy Agency's director for energy markets and security, about the US' changing role in the global oil market and necessity of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The SPR wasn't tapped after the September 14 attacks on Saudi oil facilities, but Sadamori says the mere fact that it could have been likely kept oil prices relatively stable. And as the US approaches new status as a net oil exporter, Sadamori says there is still a need for strategic stocks.